


The Reason

by sixlune



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23624356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixlune/pseuds/sixlune
Summary: The Reason is my very first fan fiction written in Chinese. I am a big fan of Lariope’s Second Life, and it’s her fantastic work that enabled me to discover the suitability between Hermione and Severus, and the interestingness in further imagining the story of the two.I have read Lariope’s Second Life for no less than 5 times. It shocked me, and I can’t help myself to create a story based on Second Life’s context. To be honest, I’m quite conservative, so it’s a little bit illogical for me to read Hermione having sex with Severus at the night they married. Furthermore, while Hermione dislikes Severus, her professor,  she likes Ron. So there must be some reason for her to agree Dumbledore’s plan without deep consideration and chose to cut down her feeling towards Ron.The time setting of this story is 2002, 4 years after the war. Hermione and Severus had a little girl named Thymia (originating from Thyme, the main ingredient of Felix), and they lived a happy life. But Hermione found that she lost the memory a week before the O.W.L.s, which apparently concealed the reason she agreed to marry Severus and trusted him with no doubt.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Second Life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/311126) by [Lariope](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lariope/pseuds/Lariope). 



> Author: SixLune (Lofter name:满繁星, id: SixLune)  
> Main (rough) translator: AnnaC  
> Proof-reader: SixLune  
> (Both of us are NOT native English speakers, sorry for anything unclear)
> 
> *Disclaimer: original characters belong to JKR  
> Some settings from Second Life (by Lariope) are used.

The doorbell rang.

Hermione put down a piece of dry nettle, intended to answer the door.

“It’s okay. I’ll answer it.” Snape tapped her shoulders slightly. Hermione raised her head and smile, “Take it easy, Sev. It has already been 4 years. No one will hex you when you open the door.” Snape didn’t answer. He snorted, and went upstairs.

“That should be Ginny. She sent me an owl yesterday and said she will be taking the Skele-gro she ordered.” Hermione followed Snape. She entered the kitchen and waved her wand. The water kettle on the stove started working.

“Oh, Miss Weasley.“ Snape opened the door, standing under the shade of the door frame, slightly twisted his body.

“Seriously, Severus. If you keep talking to me in this tone, you will maintain your terrifying image as my ex-professor, but not my best friend’s husband.” Ginny complained.

Snape said nothing. He snorted, stood aside, and let his wife’s vivacious friend in.

“Sweetie, I brought you some trifles from Patisserie Valerie! And where’s my lovely Thymia?” Ginny unloaded a box of cake, searching around.

“You are really obsessed with the muggle’s desserts —” Hermione smiled softly. She filled the teacup in front of Ginny with black tea, “My parents have not been seeing her for a while — you know, she got chickenpox last month — and she eventually recovered a few days ago. We’ve just sent her to my parents yesterday.”

“Hmm…Well, to be honest, Hermione.” Ginny saw Snape went upstairs out of the corner of her eye, “I do

admit that Severus does look quite decent now, but I can tell — your parents love Thymia just because she is the baby version of you.” She held the teacup as a shield and whispered the sentence.

“Ginny!” Hermione gabbled.

“I know, I know! I just need more time to get used to the thorough change of my ex-professor —”

“Interrupting your lovely girl talk is against my conscience — but please allow me to borrow my wife for a few seconds —”

Snape appeared behind Ginny suddenly, holding his deep green robe. Ginny startled, nearly spilled her tea.

“Hermione, Minerva needs me. I have to go.”

“For **that affair** again? How long does it take? Will you have dinner with me tonight?” Hermione stood up, facing her husband with a mild smile, and helped to adjust his collar.

“No, thanks. You know, I’m indulging in house-elves’ culinary skill.” Snape smiled. Hermione tapped his arm with a smile. “Okay, I’ll wait for you.” She walked Snape to the door, kissed the corner of his mouth, seeing him disappeared out the door.

Ginny watched the whole thing feeling a little embarrassed.

“Oh Hermione, I believe it’ll take me another month to get used to this.”

Hermione smiled. “Maybe another year?” She said jocosely. “It’s okay, I understand. I guess I will be scared to cry if I witness this scene 6 years ago.” She turned back and threw herself into the couch.

“Cry? Only **CRYING**?” Ginny popped her eyes, “You are a true Gryffindor, Hermione.”

“Hmmm… Well…” Hermione said hesitantly, “Actually… I did sense something before I married Sev…something vague, weird, but strong — when I was in 5th grade…”

“A-HA! Did I miss anything? Don’t tell me that you agreed to marry him in 6th grade because you have already fallen in love with him.”

“What?! Of course NOT! That’s impossible! It’s just…” She stumbled, “Okay…Well, when I was in 5th grade — to be more specifically — before the O.W.L.s, I guess I was overwhelmed by stress — I dreamed a dream depicting my marriage life between me and Sev every night, EVERY NIGHT.” She stressed.

“Bang—” Ginny’s teacup fell to the tea plate.

“You… what?”

Hermione grinned. She cleared the table filling with tea by waving her wand. “Those dreams … They definitely forebode something. But I couldn’t figure out what does that really mean at that time. I even considered asking Professor Trelawney for divination. But, you know, before the O.W.L.s, I didn’t have the mood and time to contemplate those affairs besides study. And since those dreams quite…emmm, pleasant? And after that week everything went smoothly and ordinarily — I didn’t pay much attention to it, and treated them as the results of overloaded stress.”

She added some tea to both of their teacups with her wand and hesitated for a while.

“Actually… I haven’t told anyone about this, even Sev.”

Ginny’s eyes glittered. She put down her teacup and grabbed Hermione’s hands.

“I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

She spoke in a serious tone but was betrayed by her cunning smile.

Hermione looked at Ginny with a smile. “You look so alike with Lavender.”

“Oh, please Hermione, don’t mention her at this time.” Ginny waved her hands impatiently.

Hermione smiled. She stared at her teacup, and brushed over it unconsciously.

“Two weeks before the O.W.L.s, there was a period… like…a week? I felt like my memories were so unreal. I didn’t remember what I did at all but…but I did have the memories. The memories of classes, the memories of reviewing my lessons, the memories with Harry and Ron…”

Hermione stopped. She sipped the tea. Her eyes went blur.

“And… I remembered, clearly, that Sev came into my dream every night. However, I didn’t have any memory about him besides those dreams. There were three potion classes at that week, but I couldn’t recall anything. What had I done at those classes? Why did Harry and Ron say the relationship between me and Sev that week is horrible? It seemed that Sev acted extremely mean to me, but actually…I had no memories of it. I don’t know why he was so irate, and why I dared to challenge his indignation.”

Hermione brushed over her teacup slightly. She gazed at the tea leaf absent-minded.

“Strange, huh? The clue for figuring out this paradox is only the dreams I dreamed every night. But…bizarre. No reminiscence from the dream managed to stay. I couldn’t recall the details. No matter how hard I try, the information I’m able to recall were only three: I marry to Severus Snape; I have a child with him; I live an extremely happy life.”

The tea leaf swung.

“After the O.W.L.s, I finally had the time to contemplate this unnatural, absurd phenomenon. I sought so many approaches to retrieve my lost memories, but I couldn’t. The weirdest thing is, whenever I recall those dreams…oh, Merlin…I can always feel my goosebumps. Not because scare or fear, it’s because of…HAPPINESS. The happiness I’d never experienced before. It is just like…Like I have to marry Sev. If I’m not, Sev will die and I will marry a wrong man. Both of us will face a tragic ending if we don’t bond with each other. Since then, I…My feeling toward Sev began to change.”

Ginny’s mouth rounded.

Seeing Ginny’s astonishment, Hermione immediately replied, “No, it’s not that you are thinking. I assure that I am not in love with him at that time. I just…I just began to feel curious about him—extremely curious.”

“And you know the following story. Dumbledore called me to his office on my 17th birthday, asked me am I willing to marry Sev, and…I got married.”

Ginny cleared her throat. She sipped some tea to moisten her mouth. “Yes, I know. You agreed immediately, and even lobbied Severus to get married with you.”

Hermione chuckled softly. She put down her teacup and stretched her limbs. “Yes. To be honest, I didn’t even think thoroughly on why Dumbledore wanted me to marry him.”

Ginny took a piece of trifle and gave it to Hermione, “You know, I still cannot totally accept the fact that your husband is Severus. I deem that you deserve a fantastic man, and that man definitely isn’t Severus. But…Seeing how happy you are now, it’s probably the time for me to forgive him.” Ginny nodded satisfactorily with a smile. “Maybe they were prophetic dreams. You look gorgeous now.”

“Probably. Sev is a fantastic partner.” Hermione smiled sweetly, “Do you want more tea, Ginny? Sev bought some classic Da Hong Pao from China recently…”

***

It was already dinner time when Ginny left. There was some trifle left, so Hermione saved some time from open the oven. Hermione went back to the dungeon. She pulled her sleeves up, preparing to pour the decoction into containers.

Just before her move, she smelt a familiar scent, a warmth surrounded her, and a pair of strong arms tightly curled her up.

“Oh, Sev.” She murmured with a sweet smile. She turned and hugged back. “You are not entering from the door again.”

“Minerva and Flitwick take turns to annoy me. The hours I experienced in Hogwarts are like ages, Hermione.” Snape tightened his arms, buried his head into his wife’s wavy messy hair and sniffed it.

“I miss you.”

Hermione felt like she was swimming in a pool filled with honey.

They didn’t how long they maintained their posture. After another sniff of his wife’s fragrance, Snape slightly released his arms.

“They still want you to go back and teach, huh?” Hermione looked at his deep black eyes with a smile.

“Yes.” Snape sneered, “Flitwick said that we could not afford our living only by providing potions to St. Mungo's. The best joke I’ve ever heard.” He grinned sardonically.

“I believe Professor Flitwick forgot the fact that I am working for the Ministry of Magic, and my position is quite high.” Hermione laughed and comforting her husband by feeling his back with her hands.

But she failed in comforting her husband. Her words worked another way round.

“I believe we should send an owl to check our account in Gringotts tomorrow. You will then understand I can still afford our living without your goddamned job. A lot better than your red-haired friend, I have to say.”

Hermione pinched his back with an admonitory smile. “I love my job, Sev. Kingsley is a good boss and I feel happy working with him. I don’t want to hear that again.”

Snape snorted discontentedly but didn’t say anything. “When will Mia be back?”

Hermione looked at Snape playfully, the latter looked away, released his hands, started checking the degree of completion of the decoction.

“Mia just went to my parents’ home last night, Sev. You know, my parents won’t let Mia back until the day after tomorrow.”

Snape added a spoon of hexagonal bug claws into the cauldron, whispered quietly. “Hindering other’s daughter from going back home…What a shitty logic…”

“Sev.”

Hermione said calmly behind.

“I am my parent’s daughter.”

“So according to your logic, I think I should live with my parents.”

She smiled when seeing Snape froze.

This man spent nearly a year with countless efforts to find her parents. He helped them accommodate to the muggle world, and even managed to restore their memory. But after her parents retrieving their memory successfully, he decided to be a coward. She had exhausted all the measures to have him meeting her parents.

“Oh Sev! They’ll like you! You did so much for them!”

“Hermione, I think you probably forgot that it’s me who obliviated their memory, got their only daughter away from them and threw them to Australia.”

“But you are also the one who brought back everything! I’ve told them what happened during these years. They want to see you!”

“Stop being ridiculous, Hermione. No one will accept a son-in-law who is 19 years older than their daughter.”

“My parents will! Please, Sev, they really wanted to thank you in person. You can’t avoid seeing them in your entire life, right?”

“I planned to do so.”

They repeated such conversations for many times. At last, she got mad. She ran away from the last house on Spinner’s End and lived with her parents for a month. Finally, he realized that he couldn’t live without her. He eventually went to her parents’ house, met her parents, and brought her back.

As what Hermione said, Mr. and Mrs. Granger were nice. They forgave what he did, and also neglected his age (Merlin’s beard! He was just 8 years younger than Mrs. Granger!). They treated him as their son. He has been living in dark for 40 years, and he couldn’t blend into such a warm ambiance in such sudden. He stayed for 2 days and left like escaping from Azkaban.

Seeing her husband pretending to be busy again, Hermione sighed.

After the trial, they spent nearly 2 years to reconstruct their life. He worked as a St. Mungo's free-lanced potions provider while finding her parents in Australia, and she was busy with her work in the Ministry of Magic. When she finally settled down her job and her parents recalled everything, Thymia’s unexpected arrival revealed Sev’s fear toward happiness. She felt heart-breaking for him, but she could do nothing. But time is the best pain-healer. With her unremitting endeavor, Severus was finally adjusted to the “goddamned happiness”.

Hermione hugged Snape from his back, feeling the sudden pause of the man in her arms. “Let’s pick up Mia tomorrow. I still have one free day.”

A moment later, Hermione finally heard the slight sigh of Snape.

Hermione buried her head into Snape’s back and smiled dolce.


	2. II

The night without a child’s disturbance was always the best time for the Snapes. It took almost an age for the erotic sound spreading inside the bedroom to subside.

Hermione leaned on Snape’s wide chest, sighed satisfactorily, “Oh, Sev. Perhaps we should delay the date picking up Thymia.”

Snape smiled softly. He tightened his arms, and kissed his wife’s bare cheek, “We can send her to your parents’ home every night before sleep, and get her back in the morning.”

“Yet I don’t really want to be starred by Ginny in THAT way.” Hermione buried her head into Snape's chest, murmured like a cat.

Snape rubbed her furry head and laughed, “But this might help her — and Potter — to get used to my new identity.”

“You missed Ron,” Hermione complained.

“You know me, Hermione. Mr. Weasley’s thoughts are negligible to me,” Snape satirized.

Hermione hummed. She said nothing but tried to blend herself into Snape’s chest further.

They remained silent until Snape broke it.

“What about your girl talk with Ginny?”

“Nothing important, just something about the past days.”

“The past days?”

“The days before our marriage.”

“Oh.”

Snape’s tone was apathetic, but his tight embrace exposed his true feeling.

Hermione comforted Snape by tapping his back, “You’re fine now, Sev. We were just throwing back, and discussed something…emmm…something I still can’t figure out.”

“What is that?”

“Well…You know, before I married you, our relationship used to be adversarial.”

Recalling her husband’s mean comments for her homework, Hermione patted his back forcefully and turned around showing her back to him in a bad mood.

“If you are unhappy with my criticism in the past, I apologize. I have to admit, they were biased.”

Snape moved a bit forward and held his wife into his chest tightly.

“Nothing helps now. I will take your classic comment ‘…a Gryffindor Lion with its head filled with trashy courage’ into my tomb.” She imitated her husband’s characteristic ironical tone.

Snape’s chest resonates. Hermione turned a punched him angrily.

“Do you still need me to provide you more examples of those comments which throw me into the hell, Professor Snape?”

Snape laughed while holding his wife’s waving fists. He laid his forehead to hers, focusing his eyesight on her warm brown eyes, “If I knew I would love you that much, I am sure that I would —”

He paused.

“— Be meaner to you.”

Hermione was irate. She withdrew her hands and beat Snape’s chest forcefully.

“Really Sev, I can just hardly tolerate your weird temper.” She sighed.

“But you can’t retreat now, Mrs. Snape.”

“Merlin’s beard! What was I thinking at that time that I chose to marry you!” Hermione moaned, putting her head towards Snape’s chest.

The bedroom suddenly fell into silence. Hermione was so quiet, that Snape thought she fell asleep. When he was about to turn off the lamp, Hermione’s voice burst out from her fussy hair.

“Severus?”

“Yes?”

“I know why I agreed to marry you without hesitation…but I’m not completely sure about it yet.”

“You married me for saving Potter and me, I know.”

“No, that’s not the case. That’s not why I agreed ‘without hesitation’. I won’t be willing to have sex with you at the night we married just because of this.”

“...But I don’t deem that you had felt on me at that time, Hermione. I still remember what you said to Weasley — I’m a ‘goddamned greasy old bat’.”

“I didn’t say that! That’s Ron’s words! But how did you hear this--”

“I always prepared myself in deducting points from Gryffindor by ‘not being respectful to Professor’, Hermione, I clearly knew that to what degree did you and your two lovely friends hate me.”

“I apologize.”

“That's fine.”

Both of them paused. Hermione looked at Snape, hesitated.

“Emmm… Sev?”

“I’m here.”

“I…I have a thing that I’ve never told you before. But…perhaps it’s the right timing now…”

“Yes?”

“Did you remember that after the O.W.L.s, I try to avoid every contact with you?”

“...Yes.”

“That’s because…right before the O.W.L.s — about two weeks earlier — I dreamt about you every night.”

Hermione saw his perplexity in his dark eyes. He was about to say something, but he was stopped by her.

“You don’t have to say anything. I know, it’s crazy and…weird. The dreams lasted for a week. I dreamt about our lives after our marriage but forgot everything when I woke up. I just had a vague, blurry engram. Whenever I woke up, I felt like I was sleeping in the bosom of a Patronus, warm, blissful, and supreme happiness. It was like …like ME inside the dream was the real one, while the ME in Hogwarts wasn’t.”

Hermione paused, felt too bashful to look at his face.

“I was trying to escape from you as I recalled the hazy and crazy dreams whenever I saw you. Those dreams kept reminding me — you are destined to be my future husband. That’s why…that’s why that night, I agreed Dumbledore’s preposterous suggestion and had sex with you — you know, I’m not the girl who can sleep with a one I don’t have sense.”

“It’s weird right?” Hermione sighed. She hugged Snape’s waist, “I even went to St. Mungo's to check was I cursed by any love spells.”

Snape remained silent. He frowned, it seemed that he recalled something.

“Hermione.”

“Yes?”

“The time you mentioned… I discovered that I do not have any memory of our contact.”

Hermione raised her head up quickly, looking at Snape with astonishment, “What?”

Snape looked extremely serious, “My case is slightly different. But I have to say, two weeks before your O.W.L.s, there was no memory left that concerning you.”

Snape looked into Hermione’s warm brown eyes, trying to organize his language.

“But…after that week, my thoughts toward the future completely changed. Somebody greatly affected me. But I have no information about…her, or him. I can’t remember that person’s sexuality, where was he/she from, and…of course, who she, or he is. What I only managed to recall is, that person brought me hope. She… or he — well, actually I have an intuition that that person is a woman — ignited my life. She persuaded me that my future worth awaiting — and I started to look forward to the future.”

Snape paused a while.

“Did you know why Dumbledore asked you to marry me in such a sudden?”

“No.”

“It’s me. Of course, I didn’t threaten him with the sword of Gryffindor.”

“Then why me? And why did you reject his suggestion at first?”

“Dumbledore wasn’t expecting my survival, and neither did I. But after that week, I fell into an extreme desire for the future. Until one day — I was almost tormented by this yearning — I demanded my survival. I went to Dumbledore’s office, begged him to find a way to assure my alive. And you know everything later: Dumbledore used our marriage as insurance of my life”

“But… why me? I believe there were better choices other than me, like…Nymphadora? Okay, I know that she won’t agree to marry you — what about other girls from the Order? They had already reached adulthood at that time, and many of them were a lot outstanding than me —” Hermione's voice turned slight, that Snape could barely hear.

“To be honest, I also don’t know why that girl was you.”

Snape’s back was attacked heavily right after this sentence.

“He didn’t give me the real reason, so he could barely convince me. Not to lie, I really hoped that you would reject this ridiculous marriage, but you really, really surprised me.”

Hermione snorted, “Thanks to those goddamned crazy dreams. They gave me a feeling like if I said no, I would lose my Mr. Right forever.”

“Glad to hear that. Perhaps Dumbledore should be a marriage agent rather than Hogwarts’ headmaster.” Snape mocked.

Hermione didn’t answer, but kept staring at Snape, “Sev?”

“Yes?”

“Maybe… we lost something.”

“I think so.”

“Aren’t you curious about it? Both of us are missing an important part of our memory at the same point-in-time. I tried for years to get it back, but I have no idea about the whole thing. I —”

“Hermione.”

Snape chipped in his anxious wife silkily.

“I used to have the same anxious, but Dumbledore told me something.”

“What?”

“‘The future will answer’.”

“Ha! ‘Future’! Fuck the FUTURE off! Why can’t I know it NOW?”

“He told me to wait patiently. He said, at some time in the future, I — we — will know why.”

“Maybe when I am ready to heaven.”

“Hermione, though I don’t really agree with some of Dumbledore’s thoughts and measures, I have to admit that he was a genius in certain fields.”

Hermione didn’t say anything but snorted to express her agreement.

“Having a bee in one's bonnet does nothing to this situation. And it’s 1 am now, I guess it’s time to go to sleep, right?”

Snape turned off the lamp and grabbed Hermione to his chest.

“Good night, my dear.”


	3. III

At last, the Snapes picked their daughter up on the fourth day.

“To let Mia’s grandparents feast more family time,” Snape said.

But Hermione thought it’s her husband’s excuse.

Being ignored in the past 36 years in his 42-year life, it’s tough for Snape to handle Mrs. Granger’s enthusiasm. To him, her passion is quite knotty. (“OH Merlin’s pants!” He thought furtively, “I prefer having a duel with Voldemort rather than feeling this discomfiture!”) He knew he mustn’t repay her kindness with his impatient indifference as usual, so he suppressed himself and tried his best responding Mrs. Granger with stiff nods, rigid smile, and monotonous monophonies. He didn’t want his perishing reactions to cause any conflicts between his wife and his mother-in-law. Hence, though Mr. and Mrs. Granger had prepared a hearty feast, he found this meal terrifying insipid.

Luckily, right after the dinner, Kingsley sent an owl informing Hermione an emergency (“We got THAT!”, the letter shouted wildly with joy), and Mrs. Granger eventually waived her enforcement in detaining them having a cup of tea (“—or maybe staying for a night?” Mrs. Granger added eagerly) before leaving. Before Hermione left for her work, Snape also excused himself and brought their daughter back to their home.

The 1-year-something-old little girl was at the age of being energetic, vigorous, and restless. Hadn’t seen her parents for four days, she was overjoyed with screaming and hence pestered them with unceasingly horseplay for the whole afternoon. The poor parents finally had their time when the baby’s battery was completely drained. Thymia had fallen into a deep sound dream after leaving her grandparents' house. Snape watched his daughter’s luscious sleeping face in fascination and laid her on her little tailored bed in the dungeon with extreme gentleness. He gave himself an unvoiced Silencio, and proceeded his unfinished potion work.

When the dungeon was brimmed with Dittany’s fragrance, Snape terminated his work, gave his little angel a loving kiss, and raised his head to have a glimpse of the clock. He froze after seeing the time.

_It’s about midnight._

_And she’s still not back._

_Whenever Hermione had to work overtime, she would definitely notify him beforehand and absolutely not return home later than 11pm._

_It’s terrifyingly unusual._

Snape pursed his lips to a straight line. His heart pounded faster.

_She said it’s just a piece of contraband and she would be back soon. She must have already done her work. Except… EXCEPT…_

Snape grabbed his wand without hesitation. He placed it horizontally on his palm, thinking of his wife, “ _Point me!_ ”, he shouted anxiously.

His wand turned. It pointed upstairs.

A rat-a-tat came on the door.

Snape tore open his door ferociously. His hideous countenance frightened Kingsley who stood outside. Kingsley took a step back, patting his chest. 

“Oh, Severus, your face would make every child burst into tears—”

“I have no time for your bullshit!” Snape dragged Kingsley’s collar fiercely, “Where — is — my — wife —!”

Kingsley scratched his head embarrassedly. He cleared his throat and tried to talk prudently.

“Don’t worry, she…she’s okay — Really! But we just got a tiny bitty little glitch —”

Kingsley tore off Snape’s hand on his collar. He moved to aside and showing an unconscious woman — more accurately, a girl — floating behind.

Snape widened his eyes. His face turned pale.

“I don’t really think we are at a good place for holding conversations, could you please let us in?” Kingsley rubbed his nose awkwardly. 

Snape stiffly nodded. He gave the way to let the man and the floating girl in.

“What happened!” He shouted through clenched teeth. He stared at the girl lying on the couch with Hogwarts’ uniform with, face getting paler.

“Have a look at it.” Kingsley lent him a peculiar pocket watch. Snape grabbed it, staring at the dial. Astonishment grew in his eyes.

“Damn it…it’s impossible…”

“Time-exchanger.” Kingsley nodded solemnly, “The genuine one.”

“It should have been destroyed!” Snape stared at Kingsley, whispered.

“Apparently, it’s just a rumor.” Kingsley shrugged, sighing, “Somebody stole it, kept it, and passed it down to his or her offspring. A grapevine about it has pervaded recently, and some with ulterior motives — though most of them were already in Azkaban, there were still some rats favored by impunity — may utilize it and return to the D-Day, saving their poor Lord.” Kingsley ridiculed.

“We kept on tracing it for avoiding HIS back. Yesterday, the warden of Nurmengard asked us to obtain what Grindelwald hid in his room — I have to say, I have never seen such a profound invisibility spell other from Dumbledore before — and we eventually found it in his stuff. We tried to verify that it was the Time-exchanger we were searching but failed. Not knowing what else to do, we all agreed that we had no other recourse than to call Mrs. Snape offhand to see if she could help. She came and cast an origin-tracing charm on it, and…I swear, Severus, in just a second, she was tugged into the watch. All of us — I mean, Harry and I — couldn’t do anything but watch her disappear. After about…6 minutes? I guess, Mrs. Snape — or we probably should say, Miss Granger — emerged from the surface of this watch.”

Kingsley paused, peeped Snape’s livid face, “Don’t worry, I have cast a diagnosing spell on her, Hermione — fine, Miss Granger — was alright. She’s just in a coma-like deep sleep.”

Snape didn’t answer. He observed the queer watch taciturnly.

“ _‘GGAD proudly present —’_ ” Snape caressed a bumpy side of the watch, flipped it over, reading each word by each word quietly while squinting his eyes.

“Obviously, GG represents Gellert Grindelwald. We assume that this rule-breaking watch was made by Grindelwald and a guy whose initial is AD. About Mr. AD, we thought —”

“I know who he is.” Snape interrupted him, holding the watch tightly, “There’s a place I must go. Would you mind taking care of my daughter and… Miss Granger, Mr. Minister?”

Snape said with minatory, staring at Kingsley ruthlessly. Kingsley nodded drastically. 

Obtaining a preferred answer, Snape turned his ankle and vanished in the air.

***

“I am so sorry for interrupting your sweet dream, Minerva.” Snape said dryly, without feeling bad for her at all, “I have something urgent that I have to discuss with Dumbledore’s portrait right now.”

“That’s fine, Severus. I believe you must be having a real emergency or else you won’t come over to Hogwarts.” Professor McGonagall tapped his shoulders light-heartedly, “Actually, you can use the Floo Network in your original office’s fireplace. After your visit last time, I’ve asked contractors to fix the network as I thought —”

“Thanks, Minerva. _‘Lemon Ice-cream!’_ ” Snape chipped in by saying the password. He entered the headmaster’s office, “I’ll contact you when I’m back.”

“Fine, fine.” Professor McGonagall mumbled discontentedly. Seeing Snape closing the door, she returned to her bedroom.

“SEE—WHAT—IT—IS—!” Snape banged the frame of Dumbledore’s portrait furiously with the peculiar watch. Dumbledore was appreciating a newly-added peony, and Snape’s impulse shook one of its petals off. Dumbledore put down the peony unhappily, raised his head and said: “Severus, I really wonder when can you be a real gentleman —” Dumbledore wasn’t able to finish his line. He saw what was held tightly by Snape.

“Oh.” Dumbledore sighed and stared at the pocket watch infatuatedly. “Oh, oh, oh.” He sighed unconsciously.

Dumbledore was enthralled by the watch. He didn’t say a word and just kept sighing. Snape tried very hard to control force and prevent himself from tearing the portrait, but later he just let go.

“Where did you find this little thing, Severus?” Dumbledore asked quietly.

“I am not interested in finding such a goddamned watch which ruined my life, Dumbledore.” Snape said coldly, “Who would go to Nurmengard to find this deformed watch deliberately?”

“Nurmengard…” Dumbledore whispered, looking into the air with a pair of vacant eyes. It seemed that he was trapped in memories.

Snape didn’t say anything until Dumbledore resumed. He knew that he could get a far more detailed answer by being patient in for few minutes.

“... I… used to think that we could change the future by returning back to the past, Severus.” Dumbledore eventually opened his mouth. He talked slowly as if speaking was torture.

“So I made such little thing with Ge…Grindelwald. We thought we could travel to the past freely with it, and create countless desirable futures in the countless pasts.”

“But we’re wrong… completely wrong.” Dumbledore murmured, “In fact, it’s ‘now’ — the future of the ‘past’ — defining the past, but not the ‘past’ determining the present. Traveling to the past and change the future is totally nonsense and an utter paradox. What we’ve changed the past would not affect our world’s future — it would just become one of the countless future parallel worlds in the universe, Severus. Changing the pasts would just create parallel worlds, and there is nothing to do with the original future. The origin world will breed another ‘us’ to fill our absence. The world is destined, and no one can break the circle. The only approach to ensure that we can return to our world is to exchange. We at this moment exchanged with us in the past. What **I at this moment** did in the past will be the memories of the **present me** , while what **I in the past** does in the future will be a deja vu of the **past me**.”

Dumbledore twisted his beard with his fingers and made a knot mechanically.

“See, everyone, wizards or muggles, men or women — everyone’s life are all predestinated. Another possibility will just exist in another world. We were all walking on our life-line accordingly. So if you are back in the past, that will be the past you’ve experienced. No worry, Severus, Voldemort would never return, and neither do I. I won’t be able to get rid of this frame and be a man again.” Dumbledore raised his eye from his half-moon glasses, looking at Snape, smiled.

“The fascinating whole story is none of my business.” Snape said coldly, “My wife was forced to return back to her school life by this goddamned fucking watch. Miss Granger was exchanged in return.”

“Oh, oh, oh.” Dumbledore’s tone raised in excitement, “Seems that she is on her ‘exchanging time-point’.” 

Snape raised one of his eyebrows.

“See, this watch will only react with people who must exchange with the past them. Those folks are always confused with their past memories. Their life-line was slightly flawed, and they have to return to the past to bridge the gap. In other words, **they in the past** need help from **themselves in the future**. That’s why they find a certain part of their memory uncertain, as the memory belongs to **them in the future** , not **them in the past**.”

Snape lowered his head and looked at the deformed watch lying on his hand quietly.

“Dumbledore,” Snape said lightly.

“Yes?”

“I’d told you that there was someone who affected me enormously.”

“Yes, I do remember.”

“But I had no idea who the person was.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Now I know who she is.”

“Clever you, Severus.”

“But I still have three questions.”

“Yes?”

“Why wasn’t my memory recovered? Why was it hidden? Also, my wife always wanted to know why did she marry me, will she get her memories back?”

“The future will answer, Severus. You will understand everything when your wife is back. The only thing I can tell you is — Miss Granger would never be able to recall what happened in the future.”


	4. IV

Hermione Granger felt a flurry touch wagging her face, along with delightful giggles of a young little girl.

“Oh… Crookshanks… you are on my bed again…” She moaned, fling those soft hair on her face. She flipped her body and buried her face in her blanket, “Please Lavender… the rooster isn’t even crowing yet, it’s not even 6am! Could you please be quiet for Merlin’s sake…”

Saying it with a daze, she buried herself deeper in the blanket, trying to get her sweet dream back.

She stayed up late last night for reviewing her O.W.L.s. And thanks Merlin today’s Saturday! The best time for replenishing the sleep she lacked throughout the week.

Yet Lavender seemed to be annoying on purpose, she sat on her and began to pat her hair.

Hermione frowned in anger. She took a deep breath and prepared to yell. But just before her voice leaking out from her lips, she froze.

_That’s not her scent._

_No, no, no._

_To be exact, it incorporated her scent. But it mingled with a milky potion fragrance, and… and… an aroma from a man._

Hermione was completely awake. She opened her eyes, and was frightened by her view—she wasn’t on her ‘literary’ little bed filled with the smell of parchments, but on a large soft King-sized bed with deep green velvet covering it. 

Hermione sat up immediately, observing the environment vigilantly— _was she still dreaming, or was she kidnapped by someone..._

_WAIT._

A small, soft and warm thing crawled to her bosom, holding her clothes tightly and rubbed herself with sentimental attachment. 

Head raised, looking at a pair of brown eyes which looks exactly the same as hers, the little thing smiled sweetly. 

“Mamma!!!” 

_Ma...mma?_

Hermione froze in astonishment. 

_Oh, Merlin’s beard! That’s impossible! How can she have a child that she didn’t even know—wait, SHE’S MY CHILD?_

Hermione flabbergasted. She cupped the child's face in her hands and observed carefully. 

_The face…the lips...and of course, the eyes…_

_Except for her silky long black hair and a cute slightly curved hooked nose, she looks exactly the same as her childhood._

_Oh… no… no… no…_

Hermione’s brain stopped functioning. 

_This child… my child… my child with whom?_

A question popped into her head. She shivered with a startle. 

_Black hair… isn’t it… Harry?_

Hermione seized her breath. Her heart gradually drowned. 

_It won’t be… No, it won’t be…_

_She just shared a pure friendship with Harry, and the guy who she really crushed on had flame-like red hair…_

_But… but…_

Hermione found her view blurry. 

Footsteps were heard outside the door. The door opened and a tall man came in. 

The little girl got down from the bed happily, rushed into the man’s chest and giggled. 

“Daddy!!!” 

_Daddy?_

Hermione shocked, yet she couldn’t see clearly who her husband was as water vapors covered her eyes. 

She wiped off her tears with her sleeves coarsely, raised her head and looked at the man near her bed, and lagged. 

_No, no, no._

_It’s a dream. It must be a nightmare._

Everything besides her went blurry and light. Her soul screamed and struggled. Everything in her sight began to be covered gradually by pieces of gloomy clouds… 

“Breathe! Herm—Miss Grangers! Maintain your breath!” 

Snape moved to her quickly, holding her back and filling her lungs with fresh air by his wand. 

“Oh… What a goddamned nightmare…” 

Hermione regained her consciousness, muttered painfully. 

Snape didn’t say anything. He hugged his restless daughter, seeing the girl on his bed patting her furry head with an aching heart. 

_She was supposed to be like this, he thought sullenly._

_I supposed to be her goddamned potions professor who kept criticizing her. She hated me; she’s sick of me—it’s impossible for us to get married. I didn’t survive. I imagined all happiness. They were all falsehood. They were unattainable._

Snape was stuck in the darkest desperate which he had not been experiencing for years until the little girl he was hugging started to try getting rid of fetter created by his tight arms. 

“Daddy?” 

Thymia felt uncomfortable with her daddy’s strong arms. She yelled to her dad, who suddenly looked disconsolate unhappily. 

Snape awoke from the abyss of despair. 

_“The future could not be changed.”_

He remembered what Dumbledore’s portrait said last night. 

_“Once she has completed her mission, she will be back.”_

Snape felt like there was a rope supporting him to get out of the mud of despair. The warmth in his chest spread through his whole body. 

_His Hermione will be back, after completing her mission._

_“And you, Severus. You also have a mission that you have to complete.”_

_“What?”_

_“Don’t forget who you are, and, behave well.”_

_Who I am… who am I?_

Snape looked at the little girl in his arms who started kicking him due to her impatience and released his arms. 

_Yes… He was Thymia Hermione Snape’s father, Hermione Jean Granger Snape’s husband._

He composed himself, put down some clothes on the side of his bed, and grabbed the girl’s hands which were still trying to hug herself freezing on the bed. 

“These are some clothes which belong to the future you, I’m not really sure do they fit you but I hope they do.” He said softly. 

Hermione stopped and looked at that pile of clothes bemusedly. 

“I’ve made you some breakfast. Go downstairs after you got changed and have it. I will explain it all to you after you’re done with them.” 

Snape left the room, with still the little girl wrapped by his arms. 

_What…?_

Hermione wiped her tears, forcing her brain to resume functioning. 

_The future me?_

_So… I’m now in the future?_

_And so, these were all real? Not a nightmare? But something that must happen in the future?_

Her heart drowned into desperation. She couldn’t help trembling. 

_But… why? Why would the future me marry Snape? That overgrown mean greasy bat? Was ‘I’ forced to marry him as ‘I’ got some kind of goddamned hex…?_

The more she thought, the more afraid she was. She hugged herself tightly. The darkness went back and started haunting her again. 

_No… no!_

Hermione breathed deeply. She slapped herself when she found everything getting blur again. 

_There was no time for her to scare herself while sitting on the bed. The most critical thing she had to do now was to make everything clear. If she was forced to marry her potions class teacher, Harry and Ron must be the first one popping out to save her. Moreover, the Snape who entered just now was unbelievably… gentle._

_There must be a reason._

Hermione thought stilly. 

_There must be a reason, an acceptable reason behind this…future._

Finished with her shirt and the buttons, Hermione opened the door, breathed deeply, headed downstairs with determination. 


	5. V

Hermione Snape felt something furry was wagging on her face,

She pushed the sleep-interrupting furry object aside, flipped her body while moaning, “Thymia, Mamma’s tired... go find your daddy…”

She got an unhappy meow in return.

Hermione widened her eyes in shock.

Since Crookshanks disappeared, she had not been keeping a cat for a long time.

She found herself lying in a pile of books. She sat up, looked around vigilantly — she was in the Gryffindor common room that she had left 5 years ago.

What’s happening…

Hermione blinked, yesterday’s memories rushed into her brain like a fast-flowing creek.

She conjured up that Kingsley summoned her from her parents’ home urgently. She was testing on a suspicious Time-exchanger. She cast a charm, the pocket watch glowed, and… and…

And she lost her memory.

So…she traveled to the past when she was still studying in Hogwarts? How could she go back to the future? Wait, what grade was she in now—

Hermione grabbed a textbook nearby straightway, reading the title on top of it.

—Aha!

She was back to the period that she suspected someone swapped her memories in exchange with her “dreams”!

Hermione grabbed her hair and tried to recall her memories.

Yes… she remembered… IT lasted for about a week…

So, she had to stay at this time for a WHOLE week.

Oh, Merlin’s beard! How could she conceal this secret from others for an entire week?

Hermione moaned painfully.

“Meow.” Crookshanks meowed again. Hermione was shocked. She saw Crookshanks stepping on something.

It’s a weird pocket watch.

“Time-exchanger…”

She groped and tried to grasp some information. 

“ ‘GGAD proudly presents’” 

She whispered, started contemplating.

Who’s GGAD? It looks like a name... Does that mean she manage to get back after discovering anything related to GGAD? Wait… one second… there are some words on the dial…

“ ‘Return when mission completed’? Mission?”

So it was this watch bringing her back to her school life because she had to complete a mission? But, what’s the mission—wait?

Crookshanks threw a piece of mirror near her from his mouth and mewed.

Hermione grabbed the mirror, seeing herself with her awfully messy hair.

“What’s the problem, Crookshanks? My face—”

She paused and understood what Crookshanks meant.

The mirror was reflecting the 22-year-old her, but not the 16-year-old one.

Though her face and hair didn’t change a lot, she was still 6 years older than she in this time. Moreover, she was married and had a baby during this 6-years. Her temperament was totally different. 

“Meow!” Crookshanks mewed quietly. Hermione heard Parvati flipping her body.

She’s waking!

Hermione grabbed her wand on her bedside right away, “ _ Dissimulo Juvenis _ !” she whispered, trying to disguise herself as she was 16.

Just after the disguise charm was on effect, Parvati opened the gauze covering her bed. She got off her bed, surprisingly discovered that Hermione’s gauze was still open as if it was last night. And Hermione was holding her wand with a book beside her.

“Don’t tell me you stayed up the whole night and kept revising, Hermione?” Parvati asked in astonishment.

Hermione pretended to be embarrassed, “Yes… you know, I’m not really good at divination as you are. I really need to have a thorough review on it. I hope I cause no interference to you last night, Parvati.”

“Oh come on Hermione, if I just have to worry about one subject like you, I would choose to sleep over until the lesson starts, but not staying up the whole night and doing revision,” Parvati said acidulously, approaching to her dressing table, started combing her hair.

“I have the same feeling, Hermione.” Lavender opened her gauze while yawning, “Your worries are really unnecessary.”

Hermione didn’t answer but smiled awkwardly. She hid behind the books and watching her two roommates getting dressed.

“Are you both going to—Hogsmeade?” She asked curiously.

“Yes, we’ve decided to hang out last night. I’ve revised for nearly a whole month—if I don’t relax a bit, I will be mad.” Lavender answered while putting on some foundation. Parvati pulled out her drawer searching for the clip she loved the most, “We did want to invite you, Hermione, but you weren’t back before we fell asleep. So are you going with us?” She asked casually while rummaging.

“Thanks for inviting me, but…you know, I have to go to… I have to go to the library.” Hermione started to feel that she found it easier to act like the younger her.

“But today is Saturday! Hermione! You should relax a bit after high-intensity revision—” It seemed that Lavender really wanted her to join. She turned and looked at Hermione seriously.

“Oh, that’s enough, Lavender, she won’t go. She’s literally living in the library when exams are approaching. She’s not Hermione Granger if she’s joining us.” Parvati made herself a bun with an Indian style hair accessory.

“Okay, okay,” Lavender muttered disappointedly, turned over, and focused on her face again.

Hermione put down her book and walked into the washroom. She brushed her teeth while thinking of her plan.

There must be a subtle magical trace left no matter what kind of disguise charm was used. Her classmates may not be able to feel it, but professors—especially Severus—will discover it for sure. She had to cast a charm that could cover the trace of the disguise charm. It had to be obvious, without leading to any doubt that she was trying to conceal anything.

She observed herself through the mirror while brushing her teeth.

Perhaps, she could make her hair less fluffy? Hermione blinked and banned this idea immediately. No, it’s too dangerous. The last time she did something with her hair was before the Christmas ball, and it’s just impossible for her to beware of her appearance when O.W.L.s is coming.

So… Hermione looked at the glass she was holding and decided—that’s the only thing she could do.

There was something broken in the washroom along with a sudden scream. Lavender and Parvati looked at each other and ran to the washroom quickly, “Hermione! Are you okay?”

“I’m…I’m fine with it.” Hermione smiled palely, holding her injured forearm up, “I just accidentally broke the glass, and was scratched by it. It’ll be fine after casting  _ Reparo _ on it. It’s just hard for me to focus when lacking sleep…”

Lavender and Parvati looked at each other, sighed with relief, “Maybe you should take some rest before doing more revision. I don’t really think it’s efficient when doing revision under such status.”

“Thanks for your suggestions, Parvati, I’ll consider this.” Hermione smiled thankfully, walked into their bedroom, and grabbed her wand, “ _ Reparo _ !”

The wound and blood on her forearm vanished instantly.

Hermione expired a deep breath of air.

Great, the trace would last for 3 to 4 days, and obvious enough. So…he won’t discover it, will he?

Hermione stopped conceiving. She packed her things quickly and said goodbye to her roommates, rushed to the library.

In the library, she checked all sorts of wizard directories but found nothing useful. There do was a wizard whose initial was GGAD, yet he was a turncoat of the right side in the 1612 globin rebellion. Killed by  _ Avada Kedavra _ when he was 19, he won’t be the inventor of such a delicate instrument.

Searching for the whole day and forgetting to have lunch, Hermione didn't see nothing really helpful.

Hermione brought her exhausted body back to the dorm, decided to have a nice sleep before doing anything.

“Oh hey, Hermione! You’re finally back!” Hermione heard Lavender’s enthusiastic voice when she enters the door. Hermione gave her a frail smile, “Hey, Lavender. You’re back that early.” Lavender shook the book she was holding and smiled, “We just have to control ourselves not to be that crazy before the O.W.L.s. It’s just stressful for us to live with the valedictorian.” Hermione was too tired to reply, so she just tried her best to manage a small smile as a response.

“Look at your faint face,” Parvati tossed a chocolate frog to her, “I bet you’ve missed lunch again, am I correct?”

“Look how smart you are, Parvati,” Hermione smiled gratefully, tore off the packing of the Chocolate Frog with her trembling hands, and bit it quickly.

“I just don’t really feel right with your compliment, valedictorian,” Parvati deliberately tapped the non-existing goosebumps with her hands and laughed.

“You guys went to Honeydukes?” For some kind of reason, Chocolate Frogs from there just tasted better than others.

“Yes, to embrace the following awfully bad 3 weeks.” Lavender pointed the small snack hill near her bed and shrugged, “I just decided to delay my diet plan after the O.W.L. exam.”

Hermione grinned, decided to lend a helping hand to her 2 lovely roommates someday. She swallowed the last bit of the Chocolate Frog, sat up for a while, feeling the glucose started nourishing her body. When her body turned warmer, she stood up and prepared to throw the package away.

“Oh, it’s Dumbledore on the card,” before dumping it, Hermione looked at the card given alongside. She’d passed the age crazy in saving them, but she still found it hard to get rid of this habit.

But she later felt thankful to her inability to eliminate this habit.

“Albus Dumbledore… defeated black wizard Gellert Grindelwald in 1945…”

Hermione froze when reading the introduction.

“Albus Dumbledore… Gellert Grindelwald…”

“AD… GG…”

She now knew who made the Time-exchanger.


End file.
